Want to get a well going..... advice?

My parents have a shallow well on their property that we have never used (they are on the local water co-op) in the ten years since they bought their house. I want to get it set up to pump water to keep the garden watered down. That's it, not looking to get any pottable water from it.

The well is 22ft deep to the bottom, with about 3ft draft of water above that, at least the last time I measured it anyway. The well is cased with a 2ft diameter concrete pipe, and capped off with a heavy concrete lid. There is a 6" diameter hole in the center of lid, so this makes things real convenient.

I'm thinking a 1/2hp shallow well pump with about 21ft of 1" pvc will do it, and some more pvc to run it to the garden of course. I assume I will need a foot valve down at the bottom?

The power run will be about 60 ft or so, I think that's doable with 110V and the load it will be drawing, so may be best to go with 10-2 with ground? Will this need a GFCI circuit, since it is outside? I'll have to check to see if they have a GFCI circuit (the house is 50yrs old). I plan to make the power hook up as simple as possible, like probably putting a receptacle on the end of it so it can be plugged into the outlet on the back porch just for the time the garden is there. I'll have a switch in line so it will be a simple thing to cut on/off, and I may just add a timer and let the timer control it on a daily basis.

Re: Want to get a well going..... advice?

Originally Posted by kebo

My parents have a shallow well on their property that we have never used (they are on the local water co-op) in the ten years since they bought their house. I want to get it set up to pump water to keep the garden watered down. That's it, not looking to get any pottable water from it.

The well is 22ft deep to the bottom, with about 3ft draft of water above that, at least the last time I measured it anyway. The well is cased with a 2ft diameter concrete pipe, and capped off with a heavy concrete lid. There is a 6" diameter hole in the center of lid, so this makes things real convenient.

I'm thinking a 1/2hp shallow well pump with about 21ft of 1" pvc will do it, and some more pvc to run it to the garden of course. I assume I will need a foot valve down at the bottom?

The power run will be about 60 ft or so, I think that's doable with 110V and the load it will be drawing, so may be best to go with 10-2 with ground? Will this need a GFCI circuit, since it is outside? I'll have to check to see if they have a GFCI circuit (the house is 50yrs old). I plan to make the power hook up as simple as possible, like probably putting a receptacle on the end of it so it can be plugged into the outlet on the back porch just for the time the garden is there. I'll have a switch in line so it will be a simple thing to cut on/off, and I may just add a timer and let the timer control it on a daily basis.

That's my rough plan, any comments/advice? Thanks!!

Before getting too involved in the project, do a 'drawdown' test on the well. 3 ft of water in the bottom sounds a bit like the recovery rate me be very slow. See if you can borrow or rent a generator and pump or a gas driven pump...even a sump pump will do. You want at least 3 gph sustained flow todo any reasonable irrigation.

Yes, a shallow well pump needs a footvalve. be sure to keep it clear of the well bottom which is probably mud.